Any references to methods, apparatus or documents of the prior art are not to be taken as constituting any evidence or admission that they formed, or form part of the common general knowledge.
Carrying purchased, take away, boxed food items such as pizzas can present problems. The pizza box is quite large in length and width but quite small in height. The boxes are manufactured as inexpensively as possible to keep the cost of the boxed pizza as low as possible. Thus it is not uncommon for the pizza containing box to sag which can cause the pizza to fall out of the box, or the box be dropped. A hot pizza can cause the bottom of the box to become too hot to hold. Hot fat or cheese can ooze from the box and onto a person's hands causing burns.
The problem is exacerbated when multiple boxes need to be carried from the pizza outlet. The boxes are typically stacked on top of each other and held in a manner that is likely to cause burns to hands, wrists and arms when carried.
It is known to manufacture a pizza box having a built in handle on the top of the box. This does not overcome sagging of the bottom of the box. To do so, the box is made of thicker stronger material which adds to the cost of the box and therefore the pizza. The arrangement does not allow for multiple boxes to be stacked on top of each other while still being carried.
It is known to provide a paper or similar band to hold bundled items together. An example is the paper strap holding face towels in a bundle as would be found in the bathrooms of some hotels. Such bands are not designed to hold heavier objects and are not designed to enable the objects to be carried by the band. Instead any carrying still requires the towels or other objects to be held as the band does nothing more than to stop the towels from falling off each other. These bands/straps are more commonly known as an “organizing strap” as opposed to a carrying handle.
It is known to provide a strap like handle which is attached to opposite edges of a pizza box. This handle provides no support for the box bottom which can easily sag. The box cannot be opened to inspect the pizza once the handle is attached, so the handle needs to be attached after the purchaser has handled the hot pizza box to inspect the contents prior to purchase. US patent 2011/0049922 describes such a handle.
Another carry handle comprises handle portions that need to be firmly gripped essentially to hold the handle to the box. This may prove too difficult for children and the elderly. The handle is a flexible cloth like arrangement which is not easy to store in a dispenser as it would more likely tangle with other handles in the dispenser. The carry handle is therefore typically owned by the pizza purchaser and is reusable and washable. U.S. Pat. No. 8,579,344 describes such a carry handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,841,635 similarly describes an expensive quick release strap assembly for bags and packages. The assembly has metal clips and strong webbing straps and would be totally unsuited as a disposable pizza box carry handle.
DE 20308891U describes a large pizza box carrier which has a large square base and extending straps. Such a device is large and unsuited for compact initial storage (for instance on a counter top at the pizza outlet). The carrier has no easy to hold looped handle portion. The size of the carrier unnecessarily adds to the cost of the pizza. A much smaller reliable mass producible and inexpensive carrier would be much more suited.
Other types of handles for carrying fragile objects comprise multiple separate bands or straps which must be placed about the object in a particular manner. Clearly, there is a disadvantage in having a carry handle of separate parts as these need to be stored separately and then assembled about the object. If the object is a hot pizza box, the multi-step assembly can expose a person to burns. There would be an advantage to provide a carry handle made of a single piece. U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,265 describes a multi-part carry handle.
Another disadvantage with carrying boxed food items such as pizzas, cakes and the like is that the purchase often includes other items such as drinks, garlic bread and the like. Carrying these with the boxed food item can be difficult and can cause items to be dropped.
Another disadvantage is that the purchaser of such boxed food items is usually already carrying personal items such as car/house keys, mobile phone etc. These items can be dropped and damaged when attempting to carry boxes of pizzas, drinks, deserts, cakes and the like.
The pizza outlet may also be liable if a customer is scalded by hot fat or liquid oozing from the box.
Of course, the purchaser can be highly organized and arrive with a bag or carry box to hold the various items, but in practice this does not happen very often.
Thus, there seems to be currently no product on the market which allows consumers of pizzas or cakes to carrying the boxes in a safe manner and preferably in one hand to enable the other hand to hold car keys, a mobile phone, a child's hand and the like.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a carry handle that may overcome at least one of the above disadvantages or provide a useful or commercial choice in the marketplace.